This weekend, young leaders in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East will entertain orphans, bake bread for the homeless and even form a “trash mob” to clean city streets as part of the United Religions Intiative (URI)’s participation in the 25thanniversary of the world’s largest service event: Global Youth Service Day.
URI’s young leaders will join an estimated 2 million volunteers in more than 100 countries on six continents -- including all 50 U.S. states – in taking part in more than 4,000 service projects worldwide from April 26-28, 2013.
The event is hosted annually by Youth Service America, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that awarded $1.1 million in 2012 to organizations, schools and young people whose projects had a measurable impact on youth and their communities.
URI’s young leaders will host four events in Latin America throughout the weekend, thanks in part to a grant from the International Young Professional Foundation.
In Peru, former URI Youth Ambassador Adriana Vera will lead an art workshop with members of her group, Educación Protagonismo y Arte, which promotes citizenship and social inclusion through cultural activities. In Argentina, members of Constructores de Puentes (Bridge Builders), a Buenos Aires social service organization for young people of many faiths, will bake bread for the city’s homeless in three locations: a Catholic school, an Islamic center and a synagogue.
In the Dominican Republic, former URI Youth Ambassador Cesar Rodriguez will play, talk with and screen a film for the 37 young residents of Hogar Bethesda, an orphanage. In Venezuela, Enoé Texier, URI’s Regional Coordinator for Latin America, and students from Central University taking part in the project Niños por un Mundo en Paz (Children for a World in Peace) will also host a celebration for children at a hospice.
In Kampala, Uganda, more than 30 young leaders will take part in a “Trash Mob” – a flash mob to clean up the areas of Bakuli, Namirembe and Mengo in Lubaga Division. Members of URI will work side-by-side with Kampala City Yange, the Forum for Women in Democracy Young Leaders Alumni Association and local political and community leaders.
“The service project will emphasize promotion of environmental stewardship through presentations, hands-on activities and service-learning projects, promotion of volunteerism in the community as an expression of individual and corporate social responsibility, removal of litter from neighborhoods, streets, schools, parks and public places and promotion of a litter-free Kampala,” said Hannington Wako, URI’s Young Leaders Program Associate for Africa.
“The Young leaders shall also use the exercise to inform the communities about their activities and how they can get involved, associate with and get an insight into the life style and challenges people in these communities face so as to inform their respective mandates, and conduct a community survey to identify their needs and assets for future service opportunities,” Hannington said.
In Bosnia, Leija Hasandedic and Vedrana Damjanovic (pictured above) will co-host a workshop that combines – and enhances -- the work each is doing as a URI Youth Ambassador. Youth Ambassadors receive training, support and funding from URI’s Young Leaders Program to complete a service project, one that will have an impact in both their local communities and the broader geographic region.
Lejla, a 25-year-old Muslim, is currently working to establish a “Youth Café” that will serve as a safe place where young people from different backgrounds – particularly those with special needs -- can encounter each other through common interests such as music, social service and art. By training other young people to become peer educators, Vedrana, an 18-year-old Orthodox Christian, hopes to bridge the divide between different faith groups and ethnicities in Bosnia.
Throughout the weekend, Vedrana’s peer educators will take part in Leija’s Youth Café, acting as mentors to some of the younger participants. The workshop marks the first time the two Youth Ambassadors have worked together on a project.
In Morocco, Salam Shabab – a URI Cooperation Circle – will host an “international work camp” in conjunction with Global Youth Service Day. The group, based in Tiflet, recently planted more than 100 olive trees in three Moroccan cities in an event that drew 40 young people from six nations.
For more information about Global Youth Service Day – including an interactive map chronicling service projects throughout the world and their projected impacts – visit www.gysd.org.
